| DL5RT |
Rating:  |
2023-12-02 | |
| Not recommended for permanent installations |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
After a long assembly process, we had put the heavy-duty Spiderbeam on the mast on the roof of our clubstation a few weeks ago.
The first snow this winter easily snapped one of the fiberglass poles and left the antenna as a dangled mess of wires and fiberglass on the roof.
While it was in one piece, it was working well. However, it looks like the Spiderbeam is not suited to withstand "normal" weather conditions in southern Germany in a permanent installation. |
|
| NO9E |
Rating: |
2023-07-20 | |
| Pretty good over 3 years except for some slipping |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I bought a 5 band HD version with cut wires. It is attached to a 45 Spiderpole and is rotated by a G800SDX rotor.
The assembly was a bit involved as some ropes/wires did not fit and I could not figure out how to work with the included tighteners. After adjustments, SWR is low on all bands except 15m, where it is close to 2:1.
For 3 years the antenna just works. Not as powerful as my Yagis at 60 and 100 ft but still does pretty well, well above a dipole or a vertical. I use it as a WARC and a multiplier antenna.
For 3 years no hardware problems at 1.5 KW except that the mast is slipping. It slips less when the rotation is slow, and when it does, I just put a compensation in the rotor program.
The mast is guyed at 3 points to trees with a 3mm Dacron.
All in all, a cost effective alternative to a tower and an aluminum beam. But pay special attention to attachment to a mast, perhaps with a screw, so that there is no slipping.
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|
| N3FAA |
Rating:  |
2019-12-20 | |
| Don't do it...just don't. |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
I wanted to like this antenna, I really did. But after about a year of owning it, I have given up.
I spent quite some time on Q&A with the manufacturer prior to buying. We do get some wind out here in the high desert of California, so I wanted to be sure that the winds wouldn't be an issue. They assured me that these things are in use all over the world, used on DXpeditions in high wind situations, etc., and they hold up great.
I was happy with what they told me, so bought the HD (heavy duty for fixed installations) model, along with a 14.5m Spiderbeam mast and tripod, which they said would be a great match. Assembly day came and right off the bat, the screws/holes on the tripod came nowhere close to lining up, some were missing completely. I had to re-drill the holes. Then came time to mount the Yaesu rotator, which they assured me would fit. Nope! The holes once again were nowhere close to lining up to those on the rotator and had to be re-drilled. This was all blamed on a new supplier. I blame it squarely on horrendous quality control. If you change suppliers, then you need to test the parts and make sure they actually work. There was also supposed to be a neoprene thrust bearing included, as noted on their website and confirmed via email, which was not included. They didn't understand why it wasn't included. Then, they said apparently the new mast design had a thrust bearing built in (uhhhhh, it really didn't), and the description just hadn't been removed from their website. Everything was blamed on the "new supplier."
Assembly after that went fairly well. The manual is not great, but it's acceptable. Luckily I had a metric tape measure and some 3rd party hints and tricks, because everything in the manual is in metric...every single measurement and figure. Not a big deal, but you probably want a metric ruler instead of doing conversions and such.
Up she goes, and within a week or two, the entire upper section was spinning like a helicopter. 30 MPH winds had the entire thing spinning out-of-control, fast enough that it actually snapped 2 pieces of LMR-240 like twigs. I thought it was the mast sections spinning. Nope, it was the actual antenna itself, likely because the section where the standpipes come together is made of flimsy aluminum, and incredibly cheap u-bolts.
After contacting Spiderbeam, they told me there are modifications that can be done in high wind situations. There were 2 separate PDF files which contained that information. Why that stuff isn't included in the actual manual, or somewhere easy to find on their website, I have no clue.
But in any event, I finally got access to the secret PDF files, performed the modifications and all was well for another 2 weeks. Then it was spinning again like a helicopter. Luckilly I was able to tie it down before it snapped yet more expensive coax, or was able to take flight into the heavens. No idea what went wrong or where it failed. Took the whole thing down, rebuilt it, put it up again and got another 1.5-2 weeks out of it before it was spinning yet again.
The final blow was dealt a few weeks ago. There was a light snowstorm (first in 10 years) and pieces started hanging from the antenna. About a week later, before I could repair it, winds gusting to 39 Kts completely obliterated the antenna. There are currently 1.5 fiberglass poles remaining in the air, wires hanging everywhere, fiberglass cracked, it's done.
The performance for the 2 weeks it actually worked was phenomenal. One of my contacts in New York said I sounded louder than the locals (I'm in Southern California), and I routinely got unsolicited fantastic reports, using the Spiderbeam, IC-7610, and my trusty A1200s. But it literally worked 2 weeks in a year. If you feel like working on your antenna every week, knock yourself out! I don't. I want to sit in front of my radio and have my setup just work. I don't have time to be fiddling with my antenna every week, and constantly be replacing snapped coax.
I am in the process of replacing this nonsense with a US Tower crank-up, and Cushcraft X-7. The tower is already in place, just waiting for the X-7 to arrive this week.
This is by far the biggest waste of money I've ever fallen victim to. My tower and new antenna actually cost about the same price as this junk. |
|
| W5FCX |
Rating: |
2016-12-12 | |
| Spiderbeam Update |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
Wanted to provide an update to my original review after operating the 5-band HD Spiderbeam for a time.
Now that my rotor system is operating correctly and the antenna is up about 40 feet, I can now measure the difference in performance vs. my inverted-Vee, which I thought was performing pretty well until now.
This past weekend there was a 10-meter contest. I jumped into it and worked more than 50 stations in a couple of hours time spread over two days, including New Zealand, Canary Islands, Portugal, Hawaii, Azores and all over the Caribbean and South America... in just a few hours time.
I am running a 500 watt Elecraft amplifier, which certainly helps break through the noise and pile ups, especially when the antenna gain concentrates the signal by 10 dbi or more.
In many cases, I found these DXer's calling CQ without big pileups. The band was pretty busy, so this seemed to indicate that I was one of the few stations to actually hear them calling CQ. In my case, if I could hear them, I could work them in every case.
I spent quite a bit of time adjusting the antenna direction, and could visibly hear and see on the S-meter an 8 to 10 S unit difference as the Spiderbeam turned to the side of the target station. In many cases, I lost their signal completely in the noise on the side, as expected.
The front-to-back was good, but not nearly as impressive as the side-to-side performance.
On numerous occasions, I switched off the Spiderbeam to my inverted-vee, which is up about 45 feet in a tree.
The first thing I noticed was a 2 to 3 S-unit difference in noise floor. The Spiderbeam was much quieter than the inverted-vee, which was critical for actually hearing the weaker of the DX stations.
For signals reading a 5 to 6 on my S-meter (Flex 6300 SDR), they typically disappeared completely on the inverted vee. For signals in the S8 to S9+ range on the Spiderbeam, they often dropped to around S4 to S5. Of course, this was a general observation and I didn't take into account the inverted-v's high/low lobes, which was probably also a factor.
This is my first beam antenna, so I'm delighted with this newfound power for sure. Instead of being frustrated by DX pileups, now I'm busting through them. Instead of calling CQ tirelessly, I'm quickly getting responses and my own pileups at times.
Based upon a fair amount of research, I'm certain that I would see similar results to the above with most any reputable Yagi or HF beam antenna. However, this isn't just any such antenna. It's a wire beam antenna that doesn't require a tower.
It weighs less than 28 pounds (including the stand pipe it's mounted on) and is on a $600 aluminum mast. The entire antenna and mast system cost less than $1,400 installed.
It was tedious to assemble and get it operational due to me being in too big a hurry to get it put together and operational originally. Now that I have invested the time to get it all set up properly, it's been well worth every penny and hour spent.
For those who are interested in avoiding some of the pitfalls and having an easier time getting your Spiderbeam up and running, visit my blog at www.w5fcx.net, where I have posted pictures and tips you may find helpful, so you don't have the learn the hard way as I did.
Needless to say, I'm very satisfied with my HD Spiderbeam. |
|
| KS4AA |
Rating: |
2016-08-24 | |
| Great for home and DXpedition |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
| Began using the light-weight 5-B Spiderbeam in 2008 on 3D2A DXpeditions. Then took it to T2T/T2V in 2011. The QSO result says it all! In 2015 I bought a new 5-b Heavy duty model and took to Hawaii. Been using it on 25' Spidermast. Again, the QSO rate says it all! Had excellent results in many contests. It has withstood 100mph gusts and is still up. You can rotate it with a rotator designed for a small yagi. I lifted it onto the push-up mast with one hand (and I am 74yo). |
|
| ZL2AUA |
Rating: |
2015-11-09 | |
| Brilliant! |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
I wanted a light, low-windage beam for 20 through 10m. It was a toss-up between a heavy-duty Spiderbeam and a Hexbeam, and the Spiderbeam won, with less windage and slightly more gain (though it does lack the Hexbeam's 6m capability).
The Spiderbeam is a 3-element yagi on 20, 2-el on 17, 3-el on 15, 2-el on 12 and 4-el on 10.
The heavy-duty version has thicker (30mm) spreaders and thicker (2mm) aluminium plates for the centre fixture, otherwise it's the same as the portable version. It weighs 11Kg.
I bought a used one, and once I got the previous owner's mistakes sorted out it has been a real eye-opener.
I turn it with a Yaesu 450 rotator atop a 14m pole.
F/B ratio is very high on all bands, directionality is very noticeable and SWR is negligible.
I have worked a lot of new entities that I would not have been able to contact on the previous balanced Windom.
Spiderbeams have a reputation for punching above their (very low) weight, and I'm absolutely delighted with mine. |
|
| OH3HTR |
Rating: |
2015-06-28 | |
| My first rotary yagi |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
I ordered Spiderbeam 20-17-15 HD yagi with kit assembly service. All metal work was done, balun was assembled and all wires were cut to proper lengths. There were no missing parts. It would have been nice to get the center joint fully assembled too.
I had a 45 mm standpipe mast (length of 150 cm) on which I built the antenna. I used English and Finnish construction quides and got the job done.
The feedline is 25 m of Aircell 7 coaxial cable. I ordered it as ready made from Paratronic Oy (good website, fast delivery, well done).
The final task was to match the feedline to the antenna. The length of feedline has influence on matching. The matching was done by lengthening / shortening the wire loops at the end of radiator wires.
I don't have a mast or a tower. I lifted the antenna with ropes between two tall pine trees and it is abt 15 meters above the ground. There are two aluminiun rods under the antenna connected 'cross armed' to the standpipe. I attached ropes to the rods and turn the antenna with them.
This is my first rotary yagi and it meets my expectations. I can notice the gain by turning the
antenna. So far it has survived good some heavy summer winds (up to 20m/s).
I have got two new DXCC entries, VP2M and 9X0.
73 de Kari OH3HTR |
|
| N2NL |
Rating: |
2013-09-20 | |
| Spiderbeam HD 5 Band |
Time Owned: more than 12 months. |
I purchased the 5-band HD version of the Spiderbeam back in 2010 when I received transfer orders to Guam. I wanted a reliable light weight (low wind loading) antenna with as close to full size performance as possible.
I installed the antenna at 40ft upon arrival to Guam. First time assembly takes time - I did it over a week to make sure I did not rush and make mistakes. The measurements in the instructions were exact - no tuning required - remarkable for a 5-band antenna.
In 3+ years I have made more than 60K QSOs with this antenna and have broken several continental (Oceania) contest records. The antenna has been up in the tropical weather (13 degrees north latitude) with zero failures, and very little evidence of UV damage except to some small areas of clear coat on the fiberglass spreaders. The antenna has seen winds up to 60mph. Lots of flexing but zero failures.
The antenna works as advertized, with good F/B and decent gain.
If you are somewhat mechanically/electrically inclined (can follow instructions), then I highly recommend this antenna. |
|
| TA1HZ |
Rating: |
2013-08-15 | |
| Not for 2 days of operation but once up it is great. |
Time Owned: 0 to 3 months. |
| The first time I used a Spiderbeam was in TC0KLH, then in TC2ELH. The antenna was owned by TA2RX (see the review below). Although setup looked a little bit troublesome, I decided to get one (assemled, mny tnx to DL9USA) after my experience with wire antennas in ZA1TC and T5TC. I recieved mine (portable 5 bander)at Friedrichshafen and carried it easily back to TA. 11kg of hard cardboard box is not much of a problem. The first time antenna setup was %85 done by DL7BC when he was in TA2 for IARU HF. I just helped with the 15%. It worked very well although it was up only 6-6.5m. Second time we took it to TC0GI. With the help of TA1ED & TA1PB it was erected and fine results. Third time I got it assembled for TC2C in WAEDC CW as DL2JRM as the operator. He seems to be in the top three in class. Main problem setting as one person is quite tiring and somewhat a little bit hard. If you are going to use it for more than 3-4 days it is perfect as you get a rest the first day and 2-4 days you work for the perfect way it works on 20-10. For a 2 day op, you wont feel anything the first day, on the second day just as you heat up the game is over and disassembly is like a curse. Looks ideal for dxpeditions. Planning a trip to ZA at the end of Oct. and will see what I can get. (looking for DXCC on 20 and 15m from there ) |
|
| SV1QOT |
Rating: |
2013-05-02 | |
| Big Gun!!! |
Time Owned: 6 to 12 months. |
I owned Spiderbeam 5HD!!
Amazing antenna,where ever I turn it it shots.
Until now it survived 6-7 Beaufort.
I have put it up on my tower about 14 meters and
I turn it with yaesu rotator g-1000dxc and in compilation
With linear amplifier ACOM 1000 it's is a big big GUN.
Buy that antenna it worth the money.
Thanks Cornelius for the amazing antenna. |
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